What does it take to create a feminist internet? #imagineafeministinternet

Is a feminist internet possible? How has the internet shifted the way we understand power, politics, activism and agency? These are the insights of many activists under the call to #imagineafeministinternet.

A global conversation on how the internet can strengthen and
better facilitate feminist activism and what are key issues we
need to engage with and interrogate to realise its transformative
potential is taking place all week on Twitter. #imagineafeministinternet#takebackthetech

How are we discussing the commodification of our bodies, behaviors,
thoughts and data? How has the internet disrupted or reinforced
capitalist frameworks? Is the internet enabling greater diversity of
sexual expression or growing opportunities for the policing of
sexuality? Do we rely too much on the internet for our work? Does activism 2.0
simply satisfy our need to “do something” without truly effecting
change?

Fifty people from all over the world are meeting
about this issue next week and will incorporate your ideas into an
evolving framework on what it takes to create
a feminist internet.

Is a feminist internet possible? How has the internet shifted the way we understand power, politics, activism and agency? Join us in a global conversation on how the internet can strengthen and better facilitate feminist activism and what you think are key issues we need to engage with and interrogate to realise its transformative potential.

APC's Women's Rights and Communication Information Policy programmes work to explore and promote a queer and feminist analysis of the practice and governance of internet technology. Since 2008, the EROTICS project has looked particularly at sexual rights movements' engagement with the internet across the globe, as well as constructions and expressions of non-heteronormative sexualities online.

How does misogyny
manifest on the internet? What are the new and old ways?
Who are the actors and
who are the survivors?
What forms of misogyny
take center stage when we discuss violence against women? Whose experiences?
What have been the
effective responses to online misogyny? What are the limitations of responses
from activists, private sector, governments, lawmakers, etc?

Feminist ActivismIs it hurting us, this
reliance on the internet for our activism?
What does it mean when
every campaign needs a hashtag or a facebook page? Is it a Western/Northern
push?
With so many resources
pushed towards it, have we affected the politics of social media? How can we critique it
even as we recognize the value of it?
What is the internet we
need to facilitate new forms of feminist activism?

Digital Constructions of
Gender & Sexuality

How has the internet
changed social constructions of gender? Has it changed how femininity or
masculinity are constructed?
How has internet
facilitated queer movements and allowed for queer expression? What has this
activism contributed to? What do we want more of or less of?

Freedom of Expression

Where lie the tensions
between FoE activists and feminists? Is there content that we believe should
be censored? Is the answer to hate
speech more speech?
Does the internet
self-regulate itself?
How do we support
feminist content online? And what kind of content is that?

The Internet We Dreamed
Of

What did we expect from
the internet 10 years ago? What did we hope it would do for feminism? What happened?
What were the milestones
in the last 10 years that changed the digital sphere? How did it affect women’s
movements? How has the internet
shifted or changed the way that we understand power, politics, activism, and
agency? How do we live our lives on the internet as a space today?

Sexual Expression &
Pornography

How has the internet
facilitated the proliferation of sexual expression online? Have diverse
sexualities been part of this? In what ways? Who is drawing the line
between legitimate and illegitimate sexual expression? What do we think? Is
there a line to be drawn? For what or whose purposes?

Digital Safety

What does it mean for us
to be safe online, as individuals or groups? What are the threats?
Who is responsible for
upholding our safety?
What is it we need to be
more safe?
How do we face the macho
militarization of digital security?

During APC's Global Meeting on Gender, Sexuality and the Internet where we explored our collective understanding of what a feminist internet looks like, we asked participants to tell us their vision of a feminist internet. #ImagineAFeministInternet: Feminist Talks on a Feminist Internet from APC on Vimeo.